I had a conversation recently with an exercise physiologist who told me that the body is only able to absorb roughly 4 ounces of water every 15 minutes (which is in an ideal situation).
That’s 16 per hour and probably much less than most of us drink.
Does anyone know more about this? I normally end up using the bathroom several times during the run in a half ironman.
When I did my first marathon I followed the conventional advice (circa 1980) to drink at every water station. I got very nauseous. Same thing happened on my first tri. I subsequently found out that I can’t process much water while exercising without getting nauseous. My daughter who does tris also has the same problem. This is one reason that I only do sprint tris now and no longer than 10k road races. I don’t carry a water bottle on the bike and only take a sip of water in T! and T2 in a sprint tri. Anything more and I get nauseous. So, yes, there is such a thing as over hydration.
This from The Washington Post (http://tinyurl.com/7ekho) QUOTE
A highly honored 25-year-old D.C. police officer died yesterday after he apparently drank too much water Tuesday while training to use a bicycle on patrol, police officials said.
Doctors believe that hyponatremia, a sodium imbalance caused by drinking excessive amounts of fluid, most likely caused or contributed to the death of Officer James C. McBride, police officials said. McBride consumed as much as three gallons of water during and after the 12-mile training ride Tuesday morning, police said.
END QUOTE
There is more of the story on the Post’s website